Adventurestuck down under
by PyscoPlot
Summary: a little adventure down under with the gang where they go on a student exchange program that disregards stuff. rated t because a/n swears summary sucks and reviews are greatly appreciated davejohn, kanayarose,Bec makes an appearance and sburb never happened.


Adventurestuck

Maybe it wasn't the right hour for setting out, with the sun too blazing or too uncertain. Maybe it was a road that belonged to another, never really yours. Maybe you should ring bro to try to get out of this, you're almost certain Dirk could think of something to get you out of there. Then again, your father is just as much a traitor as John. You remember when it happened a month ago, you were still in bed and Bro had let them in. all six of them came in, faces shining with some major plan. John, Jade, Rose, Kanaya, Terezi and Karkat.

. . .

They all have the smirks of those involved in major pranks pasted on their faces; you roll over and ignore them, slipping a hand over your eyes.

"Dave" John sang, "If you don't get up I'll get in"

"Do what you want Egbert, I'm not moving and I'm not wearing a shirt. Your voice is muffled by your cover, which you threw over your head to prevent the light from the now open window from waking you up. You feel the bed move and cold fingers pinch your sides. True to his word, John is now in the bed with you. And then he bites your neck.

"Wow, you two. Maybe we should leave you in peace." Karkat joked, in a good mood for the first time since you've known him. The dark haired boy had suffered from depression ever since an accident had claimed the lives of several of his friends.

"Maybe that's a good ide-Jesus John!" you yelp, as the boy behind you presses his nose to your back.

"You're so warm Dave" And with that he wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you into his chest, hiding his face in the crook of your neck. You're bright red and frozen with embarrassment, it probably doesn't help that you're still covering your eyes with one hand. The others look on in amusement until Rose takes pity on you and passes your shades over. You take them with relief but inevitably poke yourself in the eye in your haste to get them on. "Real slick Dave."

"Shut up Egbert."

"Can you two stop flirting so we can get on with this conversation? I left Bec outside and you know how he gets." That explained why jade kept glancing out the window as she was talking. Ah, Bec. You know all too well how he gets when he's left tied up. He's a massive white husky that could take on a bear if he had too, he's done it before. He wasn't able to come into the apartment with them because a) you live on the top floor of the building and there's way too many fucking stairs. B) He wouldn't fit in the elevator and c) he's way too large not to break things and would probably end up trying to protect jade from the various shitty swords lying around.

"Fine, will you lot leave so I can get dressed?"

"But Dave, we just got here!" Terezi whined, sinking to the floor and rolling around looking very much like a petulant child.

"He means leave his room, not literally leave, dumbass." Karkat was laughing at Terezi's antics and you swear you saw her wink at Jade. Apparently everyone's trying to keep Karkat happy. Nevertheless, you raise your eyebrow at them and point in the general direction of the door. They all file out except for John, who refuses to relinquish his spot.

"Wow dude, you're like a teddy bear, why so clingy?"

"I've missed you Dave" he just blinks as if this is the most normal natural thing to say. You blush again, you seem to be doing a lot of that, maybe it's because this is the first time you've seen John in six months. But it could also be because you haven't really spent time with him in this manner before. Having asked John out the day before he went on a student exchange program to Australia probably wasn't the best plan but time got away on you. And you couldn't bear the thought of some foreigner taking fancy to him, so you Skyped whenever you could.

"Earth to Strider, you in there?" oh shit, you zoned out big time. So what do you do? You blush again and hide your face in his chest, having rolled to face him and his hand is lazily raking through your hair.

"I've missed you too." You hurriedly jump out of bed and grab a towel before absconding to the bathroom with your face a lovely shade of red. Showers always solve problems, even embarrassment, but when you get out you're faced with a new problem. You forgot to bring clothes, and whilst this normally wouldn't be a problem you have an apartment full of scheming teenagers to contend with.

"Oh screw it" You just wrap the towel around your waist and try to sneak past the kitchen to get to your room only to be stopped by Bro. and asked a million questions, apparently Lil' Cal is missing. Unfortunately your voice draws the attention of the horde currently pilfering food from your cupboards and they stick their heads out to watch. It would normally be comical but since you are the one in the towel it's a little awkward. You're half-naked, arguing about a puppet's whereabouts and being watched by six pairs of eyes. Time to go. You distract Bro with a peace offering, well, peace for you and all-out war for him. He's now chasing John all around the apartment asking for details on Australia.

You get dressed quickly, your usual black jeans and heavy black boots with a tight whit tee embossed with a broken record. You also tie your favourite red and black sweater around your waist, there's been a cold snap lately and you're just preparing for the worst.

"Finally, the prodigal son returns." Jade looks a little grumpy and you aren't sure why until you hear it, a keening high pitched howl that doesn't seem to end. Bec's upset and it would seem that your neighbours will be soon if he doesn't shut up.

"Why don't we go for a walk or something? That way Bec can be with you and my neighbours won't file complaints." Everyone agrees as the howling goes up in volume and you exit the apartment. You head for the stairs whilst the others make for the elevator; John sticks with you though, slipping his hand into yours.

The two of you are partway down the stairs when you realise something. John has broader shoulders than you do now and is built like a tank. Not to mention he's half a foot taller than you. He definitely wasn't like that before. He glances over and smirks at you, giving your hand a little squeeze and you realise you've been staring at him.

"How come you're so buff now?" you blurt out without thinking. _Oops, did you say that out loud?_

"Oh, at the school I went to the guys were all really into gym so I used to go with them. I worked out like every day for six months straight." He chuckles and suddenly you have a bad feeling about this. When you reach the next landing he bends down and catches you under the knees, scooping you up into princess hold before continuing down the stairs. You wriggle a little but can't break free.

"You know, I'm definitely seeing the benefits of all that work, maybe I'll keep going now that I'm back." You've reached the bottom of the stairs now and good god there are the others, they're all laughing at you now and trying to hide their grins behind hands.

"Shut up, he won't put me down." You snap, embarrassed by the lot of them, you try to wiggle free again but fail miserably.

"Aw, is John too strong for little Davey?" Rose and Kanaya say in sync. It's creepy how they do that but you guess they've been together so long it's probably just natural for them. They are two of the same thread after all.

Jade is already outside dealing with Bec, so she missed the show. John finally puts you down and reclaims your hand and the whole group start aimlessly wandering down the road.

"So why is everyone all here?" Now you've gotten over your initial embarrassment you want to know why your sleep was interrupted.

"Johns had an idea" Rose began. Clearly she's going to make a great information broker, better not quit her day job.

"What's your idea?"

"Hmm? Oh, Jade can explain it better than I can." Thanks John, very informative, you're starting to think this was a ruse to get you out of bed. It honestly wouldn't surprise you.

"Jade?"

"Okay. Well you know how next month or so we all start going on that excursion? The one where we pick our own countries and go in group's with an adult carer?" She was speaking very fast and doesn't seem to be taking in any air. "Well anyway, whilst John was in Australia he went on a few bushwalks and stuff and he had the idea that we could go there. We could go on hikes and surf and have loads of fun!"

"Ok that sounds great and all but where would we live for two months?" _Why Australia? Of all places?_

"Well my grandpa has a house there that he bought years ago, because he lived there for a time. And because Australia's so far away we would combine it with the work excursion that we skipped out on last year so we would stay in Australia for a year or so. If we go I'm taking Bec as well, so he has to go through quarantine but that's ok he wouldn't have to be in there too long." The others are all nodding in agreement so you assume that everybody has already discussed this without you. The logical course of action since you'll be without a doubt the hardest one to convince.

"Wait hold up" You stop walking, which cause John to stop with you. "You're telling me that we're going to live in Australia for like a year after we graduate?"

"Yeah you are." John's grinning now; he graduated early whilst he was in Australia. "It'll be what the Aussies call a 'gap year'. Besides, you're classed as a legal adult in Australia once you hit 18. And since that's already happened we don't need an adult carer, because over there we are adults."

"So what you're saying is, if I don't go, I won't see you again for another year?" you're ignoring the others now, focusing only on john. "That seems like black mail Egbert"

He already knows what you're going to say but he asks anyway, "So you'll come?"

"Yeah ok I'll come."

. . .

The next month had passed quickly, spent in a frenzy of anticipation. People were buying new clothes, getting passports, working visas and booking tickets. Putting Bec on the plane had been a tough job; he had to go earlier so Jade didn't have to wait as long to pick him up from quarantine after she got there. Finding a travel crate and then getting him in it was taxing enough but dealing with Jade after was even worse, without Bec she seemed easier to set off and a hell of a lot grumpier. You all cut her some slack though, since it was her dog that was now halfway around the world, more or less, she's just worried about him. Nobody even cared about graduation looming on their doorstep anymore; it was just everything about the trip, details, details, details.

You did take John to graduation ball with you though, and it was fun. Even if all the graduated students swarmed around john because they hadn't seen him since he left as he no longer went to school. Everybody was fairly surprised seeing the differences in John and spent a fair amount of time comparing you to him. Later that night you hissed something about gym and Australian people in Johns ear that set him off in a laughing fit whilst everybody looked on confused. They didn't know what any of it meant but by John's smirk it was funny.

. . .

The day after graduation and two days before the flight, Karkat relapsed. He almost died from blood loss and had to be hospitalised. The venture was nearly called off because no one wanted to leave Karkat behind.

We were all piled into Karkat's hospital room, watching the monitor dictate his life. We'd been squabbling over what to do all day. Any way we looked at it Jade had to go to Australia because Bec was already there.

"I have a solution." Terezi hadn't spoken since she got the call about Karkat's condition and had been here the longest, so everyone automatically shut up.

It was silent for a moment whilst she took in a breath, bracing herself for whatever reactions she was expecting.

"It's obvious isn't it? Jade has to go because of Bec, and you guys shouldn't have to cancel your tickets. I'll cancel mine and Karkat's and stay here with him. Besides there's no way everyone could reschedule so that's a hopeless endeavour right there."

"But what about you, Terezi? We can't just leave you two here! We're meant to be a team here!" Jade was totally against leaving anyone behind and had been refusing offers all day because of it.

"Let me finish Jade"

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, I'll stay here with Karkat and when he's feeling better we'll rebook and come join you. Sure we won't be there as long but its better that way. Because you guys will know your way around the place and it won't stress Karkles as much being in a new country with no idea. We can also send our luggage ahead to you lot this way."

"I have to agree with Pyrope on this one. It'll be better for Karkat if we at least know which direction the mall is at." Sometimes Terezi makes points so good that even you as a Strider can't argue with them.

"It's settled then, I explain it all to Karkat when he wakes up. We'll join you later on."

**A/N**

**So I wrote this in English instead of short stories.. there will be more! *Shameless insertion of home country into plot.* Dave's a little off character but that's alright for now, and I have a whole warped logic with the graduation thing, in other words I didn't give a fuck and turned it to suit me.**

**Chapter title is **_**Down Under**_


End file.
